Visions de L'amen

At a free concert at noon on 24 October in Dublin's Hugh Lane Gallery, pianists Therese Fahy and Dearbhla Collins will play Messiaen's rarely performed Visions de L'amen.

RTE Concert Orchestra

Sligo Choral Festival hosts the RTE Concert Orchestra for an all-Russian concert on 27 October. The following day, the orchestra joins the Galway Baroque Singers for the Mozart Requiem and the Bruckner Mass in E minor at Leisureland in Galway, and also in Dublin's National Concert Hall on 29 October.

Beethoven concerto cycle

Pianist Hugh Tinney will play Beethoven's five Piano Concertos in three concerts at Dublin's National Concert Hall with the Orchestra of St Cecilia and Robert Houlihan. The series begins on 2 November with No 1 in C and No 4 in G.

Barrows and Mackie quartet premieres

A chance to hear world premières of string quartets by Barrows (in B minor) and by Mackie (Classically speaking...) on 24 October, 2pm at the Culver City Presbyterian Church, 11269 Washington Blvd (between Sepulveda and Sawtelle, near to the 405 freeway), USA. Yi-Huan Zhao, violin, Bomey Lee, violin, Bo Dong, viola, and Yao Zhao, cello will also play Mozart's D minor quartet, K421. Further info from Culver Music.

Florian Kitt and Rita Medjimorec

The Austrian cello duo, Florian Kitt (cello) and Rita Medjimorec (piano) play sonatas by Debussy, Richard Strauss, and Entfaltung (Unfolding) by Erich Urbanner, recently written for these performers, in a concert in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall on the campus of York University on 27 October, 8pm. Info: +44 (0)1904 432439.

Schiff and the Northern Sinfonia

Heinrich Schiff is again in Britain this month playing with and conducting the Northern Sinfonia for a concert containing Haydn's Cello Concerto, Mozart's Symphony 39 in E flat, and Franz Schreker's Chamber Symphony: Middlesborough (Town Hall) on 27 Oct; Newcastle (City Hall) on 28 Oct; and Carlisle (The Sands Centre) on 29 Oct.

Rääts and Penderecki in Uppsala

Clarinettist Michel Lethiec and the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra directed by Paul Mägi are performing in Uppsala, Sweden on 28 October, 7.30pm - the Concerto for Chamber Orchestra by Jan Rääts, the Concerto for Clarinet and Strings by Krzysztof Penderecki and music by Shostakovich. Info: Musik i Uppland.

Barns of Wolf Trap

André Watts is playing at the Barns of Wolf Trap in Washington DC on 5 November, 8pm. Tickets USD 30. 24-hour information from +1 703 255 1860.

Gary Dranch plays Krenek

Clarinettist Gary Dranch will give a recital at the Donnell Library Center, 20 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019 on 21 November, 2:30pm. This chamber recital includes clarinet, violin and piano trios by Ida Gotkovsky (born 1933) and Ernst Krenek (1900-1991), a clarinet, cello and piano trio by Paul Juon (1872-1940) and a qauartet for clarinet, violin, viola and cello by Bernhard Hendrik Crusell (1775-1838).

Oreste and Oresteia

The English Bach Festival Opera presents a short season in January at the Linbury Studio Theatre of the Royal Opera in London. Oreste by Handel, not heard in England since 1734, will be staged on January 14 and 22 at 7.30 and 16 and 23 at 4. At the reverse end of the chronological scale Xenakis' Oresteia will be given its first performance in England of the new complete version. Dates: Jan 15,18,19,21 at 7.30.Box office: +44 (0)207 304 4000.

and previously published news ...

Albright Tributes

Two further free concerts in October pay tribute to Michigan composer William Albright (1944-1998), whose death in September last year has been a great loss for musicians in Ann Arbor and for American music (info: Chris Kim) :

Brave New Works, in conjunction with the University of Michigan, present an Albright tribute on 23 October, 8pm at the Britton Recital Hall, Ann Arbor. Albright works performed will be Shadows - Eight Serenades for solo Guitar (played by Matthew Ardizzone), Abiding Passions for woodwind quintet, and the Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano (Tim McAllister, alto sax and Kathryn Goodson, piano). Albright by Albright student Carter Pann will also be performed. Donations to the William Albright Scholarship Fund at the door.

A concert of music written by Michigan composers in memory of William Albright will be presented by the School of Music and the Society of Composers Inc. on 24 October, 7pm at the Kerrytown Concert House. Donations to the Scholarship Fund at the door.

New dance

The Baldwin Dance Company will present 'Julius Tomb' - one of three works choreographed by Baldwin - as part of a UK national tour this autumn: Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank (23 Oct); Wimbledon Theatre (27 Oct); Brunton Theatre, Edinburgh.(6 Nov).

Norwegian Nationals

Norwegian National Opera in Oslo stages Vernon Mound's new production of Andrea Chénier from October 23.

Norwegian National Ballet will present Michael Corder's celebrated production of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet in its first visit to London, 16-20 November at Sadler's Wells. Booking: +44 (0)171 863 8000.

George Flynn webcast

'...In a general sense the vehemence of Flynn's music is the first thing that one experiences. Here is music so harsh, so violent, so extreme that one's senses virtually recoil. It is music of primal passion and orgiastic madness. This is music to accompany the Bacchae of Euripides. It is music that is built upon such long lines of tension and with such grandness of vitality that the listener is overwhelmed, overawed and transcended.'

Gordon Rumson

A special feature about Chicago composer and pianist George Flynn will be webcast by WNUR 89.3 MHz (FM) on 24 October, 4pm CDST. Flynn will play (from recorded performances) his own 90-minute piano suite Trinity (consisting of pieces Kanal, Wound and Salvage) and will also join Bob Falesch in conversation. The webcast can be heard via the WNUR website.

Master Singers

Anthony Rolfe Johnson and Ian Partridge's Masterclasses at the Britten-Pears School, Aldeburgh, UK are open to the public: 23 October - 1 November (concert on 2 November). Email: enquiries@aldeburghfestivals.org.

Musicatreize in October

The French ensemble Musicatreize will perform music by Kopelent, Janequin, Berio and Ohana (Aix en Provence, 28 October, to be confirmed, and Brucknerhaus, Linz, 30 October, 7.30pm). Info: musicatreize@wanadoo.fr.

Sounding the Millennium

York Minster is the place to be on the evening of Wednesday 3 November for a concert by the BBC Philharmonic and BBC Singers in the Sounding the Millennium series. Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis will be preluded by the Tallis original. Alfonso Lobo's Mass from the 16th century and two 20th century works complete the programme: Honegger's Liturgique Symphony and the première of Simon Bainbridge's Chant, a Millennium celebration of live music with electronic amplification to suit the vast interior of York Minster. Conductors will be Yan Pascal Tortelier and Harry Christophers. Tickets: +44 (0)1904 432439.

Minnesota Hornsignal

Early November concerts by the Minnesota Orchestra under Eiji Oue on 3, 4, & 5 at the Orchestra Hall include Haydn's Hornsignal Symphony No 31, Henze's scoring of Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder (soloist, Michelle DeYoung), and Liszt's Les Preludes. Paavo Bergland directs Sibelius Symphony No 4 on 10, 12, 13, together with Brahms Tragic Overture and Lalo's Symphonie espagnole (soloist, Jorja Fleezanis).

Tippett in New York

Michael Tippett's large-scale choral work A Child of Our Time can be heard in New York in performances by the NYPO, 4-6 Nov. Info: New York Philharmonic.

Naive and sentimental music

Kurt Masur conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam on 5 and 6 November with Felicity Lott singing Strauss Four Last Songs. Esa-Pekka Salonen includes the Dutch première of John Adams Naive and sentimental music in Utrecht on Nov 11 and Amsterdam on the following evening.

Warwick Arts Society

Buoyed up by the Lindsays, Warwick Arts Society's 20th Anniversary year concerts in the British Midlands continue with the Ludwig Quartet (Nov 12), who will be exploring the rare G major Quartet by Franck's protege Ernest Chausson, and the Skampa Quartet (Dec 3), who set Suk's Meditation and Richter's Divertimento alongside Dvorak. Both concerts are in the newly refurbished Royal PumpRooms, Leamington Spa. Events at St.Mary's, Warwick include Florilegium (2 Nov) and the Wren Baroque Soloists (30 Nov). December showcases two mediaeval-inspired groups - The City Waites (Dec l0) and Sirinu (Dec l6) - at the Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick, while the Mellstock Band revives raucous memories of Thomas Hardy's Wessex in the historic village of Salford Priors (Dec 15). Next year's Warwick and Leamington Festival will be on 1-l5 July 2000.

Full details : 01926-410747 /496277.

Roderic Dunnett

Tallis Scholars

The UK-based Tallis Scholars under their founder and conductor Peter Phillips visit Italy 24-28 Nov (Rome, Bolsena, Frosinone, Grotta Ferrata, Milan), and the Netherlands 12-13 January (Rotterdam and Enschede). Full info on their recordings at www.gimell.com.

Even jazz

'Jazz on the level' will be a series at St David's Hall in Cardiff, Wales on Tuesdays at 8.30: Just East of Jazz, 30 Nov; John Etheridge's Sweet Chorus, 25 Jan; Tony Coe Trio, 15 Feb; Marlene Verplank and her Musicians, 7 March. Box Office: +44 (0)1222 878444.

Beethoven cycle

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment will give a Beethoven symphony cycle at the Royal Festival Hall in London commencing October 14 with conductor Sir Roger Norrington. Info: +44 (0)171 960 4242.

Oxford Contemporary Music

Commencing 15 October, Oxford Contemporary Music has a stimulating programme of events opening with Thomas Ades opera Powder her face. Following is a wide range of performers, composers and music - Terry Riley, Poul Ruders, James Wood, and from jazz, Fred Hersch, Myra Melford, Gerard McChrystal, Tommy Smith, and others. Info: oxfordfestival@ofcm.ndirect.co.uk.

1999/2000 season in Budapest

The Budapest Philharmonic's 1999/2000 season includes music by Liszt, Mozart and Tchaikovsky (13-14 December, conducted by Zuohang Chen, with Barry Douglas, piano); Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven (31 January, with the Beaux Arts Trio); Bach, Mozart and Bartók (28 February); Mahler's 3rd Symphony (20-21 March); Sibelius (3-4 April); Beethoven's Symphonies 1 and 9 (15-16 May).

Budapest Opera premières include Britten's Peter Grimes (staged by Balazs Kovalik - 13, 14, 17, 19, 23, 28 November and 18, 20 January), Three Sisters by Peter Eotvos (based on Chekhov, staged by Istvan Szabo - 2, 5 April) and Bizet's Carmen (staged by Mikos Szinetar - 20, 21, 23, 25, 27, 30 May).

Other events in Budapest include the Nureyev Ballet Competition (16 March finals, 17 March gala. Opera House); Verdi's Requiem (1,3 November. Opera House).

October at Tonhalle Düsseldorf

Highlights at Düsseldorf's Tonhalle include cellist Yo-yo Ma playing Mark O'Connor's Appalachia Waltz, Bright Sheng's Seven Tunes Heard in China, The Cellist of Sarayevo by David Wilde, and the Kodály solo cello sonata (27 October at 8pm, großer Saal). Info: tonhalle@compuserve.com.

Galliard Ensemble

The Galliard Ensemble Wind Quintet will play in London's Purcell Room as part of 'Fresh Young Artists Platform' on 7 December, 7.30pm. The ensemble will give the world première of a work written for them - Paul Patterson's Westerley Winds, the European première of Philip Bimstein's Casino for quintet and tape, and music by Berio, Briccialid, Pärt and Tinoco. Tickets GBP 10 (GBP 8, concessions) from boxoffice@rfh.org.uk or phone +44 (0)171 960 4242. Other Galliard Ensemble appearances include 6 November (Arnold, Tinoco, Françaix, Ligeti, Berio and Patterson - West Dean College Chichester); 27 November, 11am (Birtwistle, Olsen, Lindberg, Tinoco and Ligeti - Huddersfield Festival, St Paul's Hall); 6 February 2000, 9pm (Cambini, Briccialdi, Holst, Ibert, Pärt, Ligeti and Patterson - Balliol College Oxford).

Forgotten genius of Renaissance Spain

A native of Flanders, Philippe Rogier (c1561-1596) lived and worked mostly in southern Spain, and his music reflects both styles. Magnificat will perform two further concerts of Rogier's music in London this Autumn. Both concerts are at St James, Piccadilly, 7.30pm: Missa Inclina Domine (30 October) and Missa Domine Dominus Noster (10 December, also featuring The Wallace Collection in Rogier's festive polychoral Christmas music).

Uncommon Artistry

The Plymouth Music Series in Minneapolis has announced its 1999-2000 season, called 'Uncommon Artistry'. Handel's Solomon will be performed in Bethel College on 30 October; Witness will be partially African American with a song cycle from John Williams and Dream N. the Hood, a rap symphony by Gregory T.S.Walker to be programmed in Orchestra Hall on 19 Feb; The Kings Singers will present Aha! Cappella at Wooddale Church on 7 April; Czech composer Jan Jiraseks reworking of Bach's St Luke's Passion will be sung on 12 May at the Ted Mann Concert Hall. Info: +1 612 624 2345.

Music to move you

'Music to move you' is an eight-concert season announced for the St David's Hall as the National Concert Hall of Wales from September through to May 2000. Apart from top ranking British orchestras and conductors there will be visits by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.

Exploring Mozart

The months ahead for the London Mozart Players include the Mozart Series of four concerts at St John's, Smith Square with an unusual format. Each concert will contain a symphony and a concerto with a rare chamber work, such as the Adagio and Rondo K617 for flute, oboe, viola, cello and glass harmonica. There is a short talk about some aspect of the evening's music at each concert. Email info@lmp.org.

Steel and Gold

'Steel and Gold' is the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's title for a forthcoming Rachmaninov retrospective. Over October and November, five concerts will contain the three symphonies, Symphonic Dances, and a concert version of his opera The Miserly Knight, as well as works by contemporaries. A series booking will also include a free celebrity concert with Artur Pizarro. Info: bbcso@bbc.co.uk

BBC Concert Orchestra

The BBC Concert Orchestra is unusually focussed in advance publicity for its 1999/2000 season, shared between the Royal Festival Hall and Fairfield Halls, Croydon. Cristina Ortiz plays the Rachmaninov Paganini Variations etc (RFH 2 Nov), and concerts with other celebrities go through to July. Info: concert.orch@bbc.co.uk.

Del Cuarto Elemento

Music by James Dillon, featured recently at Norway's Ultima Festival, can be heard in several countries during the coming weeks. The Arditti Quartet will play the 3rd String Quartet in Köln, Germany on 4 November; cellist Rohan de Saram will play Eos on 9 November in Badenweiler, Germany (and will give the UK première on 23 November at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival), and in Austria, violinist Irvine Arditti will play Del Cuarto Elemento at Wien Modern on 14 November. Dillon, who is currently working on music for Stuttgart's ECLAT Festival in February, will celebrate his 50th birthday in October 2000. Info: Edition Peters.

Kathryn Thomas and Neil Crossland

Flautist Kathryn Thomas and pianist Neil Crossland will play a Sonata by Otar Taktakishvilli at a free lunchtime recital at Sheffield's University Drama Studio, Glossop Road, on 4 November, 1:10pm, during which you can also hear Poulenc's Sonata, a work for solo piano by Ruth Byrchmore, Neil Crossland's Reminiscences and Debussy's Syrinx for solo flute. Thomas and Crossland will also be performing at Bradford's Alhambra Theatre on 9 February 2000.

Real Fireworks

A concert will be staged in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, on 5 November, 7.45 p.m., in aid of the St.Mary Magdalen Restoration and Development Trust.

St.Mary Magdalen is a well known feature in the daily life and worshipof the ancient university city. Its Lady Chapel dates back 800 years; an early altar commemorates the death of St.Thomas a Becket.

The programme includes Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks and Purcell's Ode on St.Cecilia's Day, performed by Voces Sacrae choir and the Orchestra at St.Mary Magdalen, directed by Judy Martin.

Voces Sacrae's latest recordings include Michael Finnissy's Seven Sacred Motets (l991), recorded on Metier MSV CD92023, and 'Except the Lord Build the House', recorded in Exeter College Chapel together with the choir of St.Mary Magdalen, and comprising music by Mendelssohn, Byrd, John Rutter and W.S.Lloyd Webber (Metier ..........). The 8-voice choir was recently heard at St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, during a tour of New South Wales.

Voces Sacrae's recording of Michael Berkeley's Eight Motets, together with music by Magnus Williamson, Gabriel Jackson and Bob Chilcott, will be released in the new year.

Voces Sacrae can be contacted by e-mail, or visit their website.

Roderic Dunnett

Early Music Vancouver

A highlight of Early Music Vancouver's 1999-2000 season will be the visit of Musica Antiqua Koln to the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on 8 November, with concertos for one, two, three and four solo violins by Bach, Vivaldi and Telemann.

Biped

A European tour by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company will bring Biped, a new work to a commissioned score by Gavin Bryars to Paris for a season 9-20 November. The work explores a new animation technology of motion capture.

English Fancie Camarada

The English Fancie Camarada presents a retrospective series of 20th century chamber music at the Holywell Music Room, Oxford, UK, all starting at 7.30pm. On 13 November, 'the war years', you can hear the Phantasy for Piano Quartet by Frank Bridge, Fantasy for String Quartet by Herbert Howells, the Quintet for Oboe and String Quartet by Arnold Bax, Alan Rawsthorne's Oboe Quartet, the Delius Cello Sonata, and Britten's Phantasy Quartet.

Further concerts (including many Camarada commissions and first performances) will be held on 4 December - 'War years - the aftermath', 29 January - 'New directions' (with a 6.30pm pre-concert talk by Richard Rodney Bennett) and 3 March - 'towards the millennium' (6.30pm pre-concert talk by Howard Skempton).

Tickets cost GBP 7 (concessions GBP 5) per concert, from The Playhouse, Beaumont Street, Oxford, +44 (0)1865 798600 or at the door. Info: +44 (0)1252 727240.

Judith Lang Zaimont

Forthcoming U.S. performances of the music of Judith Lang Zaimont include the world première of her Piano Sonata on November 14, 1999 at Washington D.C.'s Phillips Gallery by Bradford Gowen.

St Ceciliatide International Festival

The 5th St Ceciliatide International Festival of Music takes place at Stationers' Hall in the City of London 20-28 November. American musicologist Joshua Rifkin and the Bach Ensemble play Bach concertos and the Ouverture in D (minus the oboes, trumpets and drums it later acquired) 24 Nov. Fiori Musicale present Vivaldi's Seasons on 20 & 21 November with new music by Geoffrey Burgon reflecting on the Vivaldi work and interweaving with it. Chapelle du Roi sing Guerrero's Vespers for St Ceciliatide on 22 Nov, and the Finnish Yggdrasil Quartet mark the 150th anniversary of Chopin's death on 25 November with pianist Fumiko Shiraga playing new chamber arrangements of Chopin's two piano concertos. The Lindsay Quartet plays Beethoven on the 26th and Fiori Musicale reappear on 27 and 28 November with James Bowman presenting two choral works by Zelenka and Bach Cantata 54 (Widerstehe doch der Sunde).

Song at St John's

The 30th Anniversary Season commencing in October at St John's Smith Square, London, contains Song at St John's, a blossoming of solo song with piano. Four Russian evenings commence on 27 November with Galina Gorchakova. A Millennium Song Series, 'Across Time and Space', explores themes of time, culture and society. There will be a Study Day led by Roderic Swanston on 16 January with the first recital on 7 February bringing Susan Bickley and Paul Robinson for a programme drawn from Italy, Spain, Russia and the UK. Finally, on 17 March Rosalind Plowright and the Mastersingers Company introduce a Celebrity Song Series. Box office: +44 (0)20 7233 1618

The Burning Bush

A distinctive integration of traditional musics will be heard at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall on 28 November. Lucie Skeaping, Arab folk musicians and the The Burning Bush, an ensemble specialising in traditional Jewish world music, will present it using a wide array of exotic instruments.

Medieval Feast

York's involvement in early music is increasing progressively through the activities of their Early Music Foundation. On 3 December is held a Medieval Feast for the Archbishop of York, a re-creation of the celebration in 1437, and on 17 December a programme of Christmas music by the group Passacaglia. There is more pre-Christmas and Christmas music. Info boxoffice@yorkearlymusic.org

Epic Journey

Sir Colin Davis conducts a Berlioz Odyssey commencing on 5 December. This is described as an 'epic journey' and will involve the London Symphony Orchestra, various soloists and choirs. Full information on +44 (0)845 60 60 888.

About Time in Ely

On Sunday 12 December a BBC Millenium concert will take place in Ely Cathedral presenting The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group conducted by Sir Simon Rattle in a programme including Haydn's Te Deum and Beethoven's Ninth plus the première of Mark-Anthony Turnage's About Time. Info: +44 (0)1353 660349.

Bach Millennium Pilgrimage

From 25 December 1999 to 1 January 2001, The Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists and John Eliot Gardiner will perform all 200 of Bach's surviving church cantatas, each on the precise liturgical date for which it was written, in abbeys, cathedrals and churches throughout Europe. The project will cost more than 5 million UK pounds (approx. 7.5 million US dollars), and will involve Gardiner in 150 air flights. Deutsche Grammophon will record the concerts, and many will be televised.

Danielpour Première

The illustrious Guaneri String Quartet, which has a residency at the University of Maryland, is to première a Concerto for string quartet and orchestra by Richard Danielpour with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin at Washington's Kennedy Center on 13, 14, and 15 January 2000 then in New York at Carnegie Hall on 25 January.

The Sixteen in sixteen cathedrals

From February to November 2000, The Sixteen will perform in 16 of England's finest cathedrals. Starting in York and ending in Canterbury, the choir will sing some of the best renaissance music by Byrd, Taverner and Tallis - composers connected historically with the cathedrals. Watch out for a new page on The Sixteen website, which (by the end of October) will give further information and booking details.

What Next?

Elliot Carter's recently premièred one act comic opera What Next? is at the Deutsche Staatsoper Unter den Linden, 25 and 31 March 2000. With text by Paul Griffiths (after Jacques Tati's film Traffic), What Next? is conducted by Daniel Barenboim and directed by Nicolas Brieger, with decor by Gisbert Jaekel.